I’m a pretty big Lobo fan and have been since I first encountered him in the pages of Justice League International. He felt like exactly the character Injustice: Gods Among Us should have in it because of his personality and over the top brutality. When I saw him in Doomsday’s battle ending, I was thrilled and somehow I knew he’d be one of the four downloadable characters. The Main Man was released today along with various character skins and after spending a bit of time with him here are my first impressions of the most dangerous bounty hunter in the universe.

1. Lobo’s opening and ending cinematics are great. The character walks, talks and feels like Lobo circa the early 90s when Keith Geffen, Alan Grant and D.J. Dematteis were writing him.

2. Glad to see Lobo on the heroes’ side. He was a member of the Justice League and L.E.G.I.O.N. after all.

3. Not necessarily a fan of the voice actor for LOBO though. It’s not bad; I just had the actor from Supermas: TAS/Justice League Unlimited and the Lobo web series in my head. This actor’s not as raspy but it is deeper.

4. Lobo’s is pretty good useage. He has two unblockable throws (one an air grab) and his hooks and shotgun blasts are a lot of fun. The hook has more distance than the shotgun shells though, so you’ll get more use out of those, especially since Lobo has to reload his gun, which is an usual touch considering Deathstroke DOESN’T.

5. Lobo’s special power is “Nuclear Shells” which simply makes his next shotgun blast more powerful. It’s a simple and subtle one compared to some characters.

6. Unfortunately the blurring of Lobo’s middle finger in the middle of his special move is still intact. Really for a T rated game? I was really hoping that this would only have been in the youtube videos but man, that’s just sad. When I WAS a teenager I was reading Lobo comics that were exceptionally gorey. The Paramilitary Christmas Special for example? Seriously Netherrealms, why put in the middle finger, which is a very Lobo thing to do, but blur it out. It feels like you pussed out.

8. I really liked Lobo’s ending. After killing and collecting bounties on all of Earth’s heroes, he goes after the New Gods. Those are actual challenges in the Lobo’s realm after all. This is a guy that can conceivably beat Superman and Doomsday after all. Hell, he’s driven off Death and defeated the entire legions of Heaven and Hell, so pitting the Last Czarnian against guys like Green Arrow and Catwoman is a bit of a cakewalk, don’t you think?

9. I don’t think Lobo will be top tier, but he has some pretty nasty combos. I was able to do one or two that knocked a person’s life in half. I still prefer Deathstroke and Nightwing, but I do think Lobo’s better than about half the roster. Some more intensive use and frame counting will determine where he finally ends up tier wise though.

10. All in all I’m pretty happy with Lobo. He plays well, offers a lot of options and is a nice strong brawler who might not be fast in his traversing the screen, but can be lightning quick with his chain. I’d have liked to have seen a few more in-jokes like Dawg or the space dolphins in his winning pose, but it is what it is. Lobo was the first character I thought of when I heard about Injustice years ago and he fits the game’s grim and gritty alternate universe perfectly. Sadly he’s the only downloadable character I’m interested in. Batgirl and Scorpion are interesting choices but there’s too much Bat in the game already and I’d have rather seen that fourth slot go to an actual DC character, as much as I love Scorpion. Martian Manhunter, Booster Gold, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Andrew Bennett or Etrigan would fit the game a lot better in terms of tone and personality. I MIGHT be interested in Zod (who is included probably because of the Man of Steel movie at DC’s behest), but only if he’s voiced by Terrence Stamp.